MILTON — Sandy Miller has been coming to Fetter’s Meats since she was a child growing up here.
She pulled in Wednesday morning just as she always has, ready to buy her weekly bingo supplies, when she saw the damage caused by a fire Tuesday evening.
“I saw cars here, so I thought they were open. I had no idea,” Miller said. “Today was supposed to be fish and macaroni and cheese, so I was stopping for the fresh fish.”
A blaze Tuesday evening heavily damaged the rear storage area of Fetter’s Meats, which has been owned by Joe Snavely since 1975.
Meat cutter Sidney Mong, of Milton, works for Snavely and was at the business when the fire broke out.
“I ran upstairs, and it was already up to the ceiling,” Mong said. “There was nothing we could do. We just got out.”
Snavely and Mong believe the fire may have gotten its start near the business’ furnace, but a cause has yet to be determined. A state police fire marshal was expected on the scene today to investigate.
Firefighters had to cut through the building’s roof to knock down flames shooting from the second floor. Wednesday’s downpours dropped even more water onto the business’ sagging ceilings.
Quick response by firefighters saved most of the structure, but Snavely said water damage destroyed the majority of his merchandise, which included not just meat, but seafood, produce, sandwiches, canned goods and candies.
Snavely, who spent Wednesday on the phone with his insurance company, said he plans to reopen, but doesn’t know when that will be as the building will have to undergo reconstruction.
“I can’t believe it,” customer Cheryl Wilver said. She drove to Fetter’s Wednesday from New Columbia for some fresh corn. “I’ve been coming here for years,” she said.
Throughout the morning, several of Snavely’s employees and neighbors salvaged what they could out of a large freezer that escaped the fire unscathed. The merchandise will be stored in his personal freezers, as well as those of his friends, until the business can reopen.
Until then, Mong and 11 others are out of a job. He said he’ll likely do some roofing work with his grandfather until he can return to Fetter’s.
“It’s a good place to work, friendly people,” Mong said. “It’s my family.”
As for Miller, she’ll shop elsewhere for now, but looks forward to the day her hometown market is back in business.
“You don’t find these kinds of businesses in every town you go to. You can’t just go to every town and find a meat store, a fresh fish store,” she said. “Even the candy — they wrap up the bags of candy, and you just don’t find that.”
News
Related Photos
-
Matthew Harris/The Daily Item
-
Matthew Harris/The Daily Item
Discussion
12 out of jobs after Fetter’s fire
Cause of blaze still undetermined
- News
-
-
Warden demotes four bosses
Northumberland County Prison Warden Roy Johnson was able to trim about $135,000 in expenses by demoting four supervisors.
-
DJ pumps up audience
Every Tuesday evening, Richard Grogg can be found spinning tunes at possibly the most well-attended dance in Snyder County.
-
Agency closes adult center
Union and Snyder County caregivers have had to look farther and wider for another program that can offer respite because the Agency on Aging can no longer afford to provide the service.
-
New Berlin pushes to acquire school
The Borough Council sold the property where the New Berlin Elementary School is to the precursor of the Mifflinburg Area School District for $1 back in 1950. It was deeded to the district for construction of a school.
-
Second suit filed to stop sewer merger
It must have seemed like deja vu all over again Wednesday for some members of the Northumberland Sewer Authority, when for the second time in two weeks, former NSA Chairman Adam Klock filed a civil action against former board colleagues Jack Fasold, James Orner and Donald Troxell, alleging they held an illegal meeting -- this time on Monday -- where they voted to transfer the borough authority's assets to the merged North-Point Sewer Authority.
- Ex-judge, 3 others die in Fla.
-
NetHead
NetSummary
-
School grants in works
MILTON -- How school funds will be distributed through Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed block grant program, which combines four basic education budget lines, still needs to be worked out, the governor said at a press conference Wednesday.
-
Corbett: Low taxes help generate jobs
MILTON -- With a backdrop of Minuteman Environmental Services trucks and charts depicting state spending, Gov. Tom Corbett said Wednesday that his proposed fiscal 2012-13 budget is a realistic plan that will help create jobs while holding the line on spending.
-
Viking Energy to close April 1
NORTHUMBERLAND -- Unable to compete with the natural gas industry, the Viking Energy plant in Point Township will close April 1 and put 19 employees out of work.
-
Getting caffeine fix as easy as taking deep breath
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Move over, coffee and Red Bull. A Harvard professor thinks the next big thing will be people inhaling their caffeine from a lipstick-sized tube. Critics say the novel product is not without its risks.
-
Jerry Sandusky argues for local jurors, suggests delay
HARRISBURG — Jerry Sandusky wants jurors in his child sex-abuse trial to be chosen from the community where he lives and is suggesting a trial delay may be the best way to address the intense publicity generated by the case.
- More News Headlines
-
Warden demotes four bosses
